Berlin milongas: floorcraft, conditions for dancing etc.

Milongas I visited

I went to Berlin during the last week of February, 2015.  Apart from a couple of brief forays I pretty much only went to places billing 100% trad music. Berlin does have a significant number of alt/electro/mixed milongas. I even once heard that called the Berlin style but I am sure it would be disputed by the many trad dancers and DJ there!

The places I went to were:

• Monday: Milonga Popular, DJ Felix Naschke
• Tuesday: Clärchens Ballhaus, DJ Felix Naschke and Alma (monthly) milonga in Tango Loft, DJ Ismael Ludman
• Wednesday: Roter Salon, DJ Michael Rühl
• Thursday: Villa Kreuzberg, DJ Felix Hahnme and Loca (monthly) milonga in Tango Loft, DJs Francesco Cieschi and Gaia Pisauro
• Friday: ART. 13, DJ Joerg (sp?); Panoramico, DJ Andreas Smidt in the traditional room, DJ Alexander Darda in the alternative room; Nou - DJ Francesco Cieschi
• Saturday: Ballhaus Walzer- linksgestrick milonga had moved to the Werkloft above Tango Loft for that day, DJ Michael Rühl
• Sunday: Cafe Dominguez DJ Raimund Schlie and Max and Moritz, DJ Leandro Furlan.

More details about these forthcoming.

I didn't notice the floor surface at any of these places to be poor.

Dancing in Berlin starts & finishes late. Don't expect many people before 10pm. Dancing often isn't well underway until 11 or even later.

Entry to milongas cost €5 just about everywhere. It was €6 at Panoramica.

Drinks

Every milonga I went to had a bar. More people drink than in the UK, possibly because the city transport system allows for it. I guess the bars subsidize the entry to an extent. Wine was roughly €4.50 a glass in most places. You can ask for tap water with your wine. Unlike in the UK, thereafter you are expected to pay for water. It can between cost €2,00 per glass in Tango Loft to €3 or €3.50 for a large bottle in the Werkloft.

Food

There was tea (and I guess coffee) and cake to buy at Cafe Dominguez. Max and Moritz is at the back of a (I think traditional German) restaurant and the dance floor at Clärchens Ballhaus is at the front of a restaurant.  Villa Kreuzberg and Tango Loft had restaurants next door/attached.  There were restaurants nearby most of the other milongas apart from Panoramica where I did not notice any because it was a on a very large street (Karl-Marx-Allee) with large Soviet style office-like buildings.

Lighting and space

Many milongas in Berlin are dark, which makes cabeceo difficult if you are a visitor. Most that I went to were in fairly large rooms with ample space. The only milonga I attended and thought crowded (which I quite like for dancing) was Cafe Dominguez.  I had a sense that in Berlin not a few people think you need space to dance. One person said the Werkloft was a small space for dancing but I found there was if anything, empty space. I have found the Thames Valley (Eton) milongas in the UK, some London milongas and even the Counting House in Edinburgh are generally more crowded.

Roter Salon, Panoramica and possibly Nou(?) and Milonga Popular(?) had red or slightly coloured light which meant that although you have an impression of darkness, you can still somehow see across the room quite well. One woman said she liked the light because it was flattering! Villa Kreuzberg and the Werkloft were just very dark. That makes cabeceo difficult, especially in larger rooms, so no surprise then that a good proportion of their clientele were couples.

Floorcraft

...can be slightly chaotic in Berlin and a little disconcerting but not much more than that. It only takes two guys weaving in and out of the ronda to screw up floorcraft. I rarely found or saw guys trying to cut in front of others or taking each others space. Again, using the Thames Valley, Eton special event milongas in the UK as a yardstick, the milongas I went to were not as busy nor the dancers quite as careful. But at the Berlin milongas I went the dancers were almost universally of a competence to avoid collision; surprising then that the ronda could be a bit variable. However, the partners of four dancers at one of the best milongas, Cafe Dominguez, kicked me while I was sitting down and only the last guy, whose partner by sheer good luck avoided badly impaling me with a heel, apologised. I heard the intaken breath from other seated dancers around me as it happened. But there would seem to be a view from most leaders that if your feet are not tucked under your chair on your own head be it...

Milongas I would like to try

I enjoyed seeing the Berlin scene but I am not sure that I would go back to Berlin just to dance a  lot and I doubt I would move there for the tango scene, as many do. I heard conflicting views about people who do this - that it is the obvious choice for people who want to dance a lot in a European city and also that it is a crazy thing to do to move somewhere for the dancing.  If I were to go back, milongas I didn't get to see but would like to, would be:

La Berlinesa - I heard more than once that this is a very small but nice traditional milonga.  It was always reported as having a small attendance.  I am not sure why that is and am curious to find out.  

El Ocaso - The favourite milonga of many was Café Dominguez.  Those same dancers also recommended El Ocaso on Wednesdays in the Kulturbrauerai.  This apparently also has good trad music with mixed ages.

Bailongo I heard was a good, trad milogna with a concrete(?) floor and is in a sportshall. It was on on Saturday while I was there, with Francesco Cieschi as DJ.  I would have gone there to see a different venue and because I liked a lot of Francesco's music but I forgot it was on and went to the Werkloft instead.

I would go back to Art 13 and I would stay longer next time. Unlike most of the others it is a beginners milonga but it is attached to class/practica directly before. I like dancing with new dancers (especially women or if they are dancing in the woman's role).  Apparently some experienced dancers arrive later.  We saw some arriving as we were leaving. The music was in the format of two trad tandas, one alt tanda.

Milongas I heard mentioned

Several people mentioned Tangotanzen macht schön but nearly always with the caveat that the dancing was not that great.

I had asked about Bataclana and was told it was a small milonga that nobody knew much about, with mixed alt and trad music. 

Bebop I was told has a good floor, no Cortinas, mostly traditional Music with tandas always of 4Tango-4Tango-3Vals-3Alternative/ and 4Tango/4Tango 3Milonga/ 3 Alternative.

Ballhaus Rixdorf I heard conflicting things about so I wait to find out for myself.  Apparently there have been milongas there for the last twenty years.

If anyone has any reports about any of the milongas mentioned or others I would love to hear them.